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Bald-faced hornet nests are usually built high in trees, or in shrubs, but occasionally they are built on human buildings. Aggressive nest defense makes these wasps a stinging threat, but like all wasps, bald-faced hornets do much that benefits human interests and should not be destroyed indiscriminately.

Bald-faced hornet nests are made of wood pulp (literally paper). These wasps chew wood, mixing it with starches in their saliva, and use this substance to construct the nest. Nests eventually have several layers of horizontal comb enclosed by an outer envelope.

The colonies of social insects such as these have been called “superorganisms”: The division of labor is greatly specialized, individuals cannot survive on their own, and it takes the efforts of the entire colony in order to reproduce itself.

The banded longhorn beetle (Typocerus velutinus) is in a group called flower longhorns. Note the rusty color, yellow bands, and black antennae. This is a common species. Look for adults in fields and other open places where flowers are blooming, and also around lights at night. The larvae feed on decaying oak and hickory wood.

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